1. Field of Invention:
This invention relates generally to wedding invitations and other image-bearing products to be mailed to an invited party, and more particularly to a mailer protectively housing an invitation inscribed, etched or otherwise printed on the face of a glass plate.
2. Status of Prior Art:
It is the common practice to extend a formal invitation to participate in a wedding, an art gallery opening, a couturier presentation or other formal affair. This invitation is usually printed on high-grade panelled paper stock, the invitation being inserted in an envelope and mailed to the invited party.
In modern life, a wedding invitation represents a status symbol; and while when inviting friends to, say, a cocktail party, one may often use for this purpose inexpensively printed "come to my party" form cards, this is never done with formal wedding invitations, for a wedding is a major social event.
Thus it is not at all uncommon to have wedding invitations prepared by an elite establishment such as Tiffany's whose very name conjures up jewelry of the highest quality and extravagant cost. Such invitations are engraved on folders of the finest paper stock and include delicate tissue inserts, ribbons and other flourishes which make it evident to the party invited to participate in the wedding that this is no ordinary affair but a momentous occasion.
One who receives an engraved invitation of this type will often display it on the mantelpiece in order to impress visiting neighbors and friends; for the wedding invitation is a status symbol that devolves, as it were, on the recipient. There is also a competitive spirit involved in wedding invitations, and one sometimes seeks by the sheer extravagance of the invitation, as by using gold leaf engraving, to outdo invitations from rival sources.
But however fancy or ornate the invitation, it is still a paper product, and invitations on paper stock have to a large degree lost power as a status symbol and fail, therefore, to make the sought-for impression. To draw a simple analogy: Cadillacs are now available in a middle class price range, and this brand has ceased to make any impact as a high class vehicle available only to the chosen few.
Moreover, even the most elaborate invitation on paper stock is discarded after it has served its purpose; for while the social event to which the recipient was invited may be memorable, the invitation thereto is not usually retained as memento.